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Sunday, September 24, 2017

This world has a problem. Well many in fact, but one of the ones I'm most equipped to deal with is the war against women in STEM. It's a fight I've been in my whole life but only recently really started finding my voice for. And when I see women in STEM facing adversity it really grinds my gears. I've been there. It's a horrible place to be. It makes you want to quit. It's really REALLY hard to find your voice and the best way to speak up. To even know it's okay to say something without fear of repercussion.

And I have to say an interesting thing happened when I started speaking up. Rather than people telling me to shut up as I suspected might happen, people started thanking me. Thanking me for saying something and for saying it eloquently. And the weirdest part of all, they told me to keep speaking up. So I have.

It pains me that young women excited about engineering not only have to
see this stuff, but also STILL have to think about how to handle
situations like this before they even enter college, let alone the
workplace. And it's horrible that women today still have to deal with
this kind of Bullshit.Yep I said BULLSHIT. Because that's exactly what it is.

This young lady is one of the brightest
programmers I have ever met, and programming was not even on her radar
until she joined the robotics team 3 years ago. She is almost completely
self taught and has come so far. Now she is looking at it as a major
and a career. To see this excitement from a confident young woman waiver
in the slightest bit breaks my heart.

THIS is why I mentor. This
is why I wont be silent. And this is why I keep fighting. Because
people STILL don't realize the opposition women in STEM face. It
shouldn't be like this. And I fight so that one day it won't be. In the
meantime, I'm glad I have other strong women I can band together with,
and I'm glad I can inspire the next generation of strong women in STEM.
If you have the opportunity to inspire young women in STEM, support them
and fight for them. Help them find a voice where they don't have one.

This is why I fight for women in STEM, not just because I am one, but for the future. We need women in STEM. We need diverse voices. It's how we will ultimately learn, grow, and be more innovative as a society. Every person has a unique background. Embrace those differences around you and rise to the top as a group. One persons differences does not prevent you from reaching your goals.

I repeat: ONE PERSON'S DIFFERENCES DOES NOT PREVENT YOU FROM REACHING YOUR GOALS.

Work together and achieve those goals together.

And if you're a women in STEM feeling lost, without a voice, or at their wits end, know that I'm here for you. Know that's I've been there. And know that we can fight it and make it better. In the meantime, let's talk about it, let's support each other, and let's win this fight.

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Hey everyone... I know it's been a hot minute since I've last blogged. Sorry about that. The end of 2015 and all of 2016 was quite the busy year. Lots of life changes and family happenings. And in addition to all of that, I've been hard at work planning a regional conference for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) which is in 3 days! EEK!

And oddly enough my awesome news has something to do with SWE. I love happy coincidences!

All right I'll stop stalling. The big news...

My sci fi short story Arch Nemesis about a girl trying to thwart her arch nemesis who has a secret lab underneath the St. Louis Arch is going to be PUBLISHED! My story will be included with a whole bunch of awesome other stories in an anthology titled BRAVE NEW GIRLS: Stories of Girls who Science and Scheme which features young women with a knack for STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math)--Girls
who engineer, tinker, hack, and more, using their smarts to save the day. It’s
got space operas, sci-fi mysteries, steampunk, cyberpunk, all kinds of punk!

Brave New Girls: Stories of Girls Who Science and Schemeis the second volume of the Brave New
Girls anthology series. The first,Brave
New Girls: Tales of Girls and Gadgets was released in June 2015 and
has so far raised thousands of dollars for the Society of Women Engineers
Scholarship fund. Find it onAmazon.

Be sure to pick up your copy in August 2017! It's going to be an incredible anthology!

Thursday, August 25, 2016

I've been rejected... A
LOT. Nearly 150 times. And that's just querying. I've entered contests I
haven't gotten into. I've gotten into contests and not gotten requests.
I've gotten requests from contests that ultimately turned into
rejections. And that's just my writing. That doesn't count the jobs I've
been rejected for, auditions I've failed to get, leadership groups I
haven't gotten into, awards I've been nominated for and didn't get and
on and on. Rejections happens everywhere in life. It hurts. It shouldn't
be personal, but it sure as shit feels like it sometimes.

I've
watched people I've come up through the writing ranks with get agents,
book deals, and see their books get published. I've cheered for them and
helped them. I've watched people that started after me succeed. Get
agents, get book deals, get published. I've cheered for them as well. I
love watching people succeed. But that still doesn't change the fact
that rejection hurts. A LOT.

I've watched people
explain their path to success. Y person entered x contest 3 times and
finally got in. (I did too and didn't). So and so got his or her agent
on their third manuscript (I'm on my fourth, third that I'm looking at
querying). That person got a book deal without an agent (I have no book
deals.) and on and on. It's so hard to keep going when you feel like
you're behind people. And it's even harder to not compare yourself to
others.

I've been thanked in so many books I've
lost count. I appreciate the recognition and I'm so glad I was able to
help so many others succeed. But that doesn't change the fact that I
have a goal. A goal to see my name on the cover of a book, to walk into a
book store and see my book on the shelf, to sign books for excited
readers, to get fan mail, and one day maybe some fan art for the
characters and worlds I've created.

But every time my email
goes off my heart sinks. Is this another rejection? Or maybe it's just
email. And the silence hurts more. Did they even get my email? Are they
ignoring me? Are they ever going to respond? Who even knows anymore. It
all hurts so much sometimes.

As a look back on where I
started though, that's where thing start to make a little sense. I made
mistakes. LOTS OF THEM. I started my first book with someone waking up
and staring at themselves in the mirror and describing themselves. I
didn't even finish that book.

Then euphoria, I finished a book. I
proved to myself I could do it. I researched querying and then the
rejections started flowing in. No requests. I entered contests and
didn't get in I researched some more. I entered more contests got into a
couple. No requests. How embarrassing... I got more feedback and did
more research and BAM some partial requests. I never made it to fulls.

Another
idea, another manuscript. I proved to myself I could complete more than
one. I entered contests I got interest, but didn't get in. Then I got
into a contest and actually got requests... for fulls. And I queried and
got more requests for partials and fulls. And then the rejections
started rolling in. I didn't get much feedback and felt lost. How do I
fix this? Is it subjective? Is there something else wrong? I got more
feedback from CPS. I rewrote, I queried some more. Got some more
requests that also ultimately turned into rejections. Still no usable
feedback. I pushed the MS aside.

I wrote another
manuscript. Hey I'm getting pretty good at this. I got some feedback. I
edited. I entered a contest and wasn't picked. More hurt and pain and
wondering what I'm doing wrong. The answer might be nothing. But my gut
tells me there's something I'm missing.

So now what? More
research? More feedback? Into the query trenches for ultimately more
rejections? I have to go with my gut and dive in for more feedback. But
what's even the point? I haven't achieved my goal, and I've watched so
many others pass me up.

The journey. I've grown so much as a
writer and if I'm being completely honest, writing has helped me grow
as a person too. In each step I've learned something. I've gotten a
little further down the road. I've met more amazing people. Will my next
manuscript be the one? Who even knows? But I have a choice, leave the
path forever and never reach my goals, or continue down it and see where
it takes me.

I'm the curious type so I'm going to
continue down the path. And one day, maybe, I might see my dreams come
true. I might get to hold that book with my name on the cover. And to me
that image makes it all worth it.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Hi all you happy Pitchwars folks! I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself.

I'm Jamie...

I'm a giant nerd!
Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

In real life...

I love space!

and love superheros!

And sci fi...

to name just a few... (otherwise we might be here all day!)

In my free time (what free time?) I dance...

And cosplay... :D

Rey cosplay

Stargate cosplay

Roy Harper from Arrow cosplay

Me in the STL comic con costume contest as Violet Parr from the Incredibles

I also love to read YA and MG!

My dog Sophie

And of course I'm a writer! I write MG and YA scifi and fantasy.
(don't act so surprised by the genres :-P)

And for Pitchwars I'll be subbing a MG fantasy about a girl... who can change into...

BUT... she doesn't want anything to do with being a dragon...

So I'll leave you there... for now...

But I will say, with each manuscript I've completed and queried, I've learned more and more about the process and improved each step of the way. I've gotten full requests that ultimately turned into no's and I just didn't quite connect enough's, so I really want to work with someone to make sure my manuscript is at that next level and has that "it" factor. I'm ready and willing to make my manuscript shine no matter what it takes.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to getting to know the Pitchwars mentors and participants, maybe swapping some chapters, hopefully really improving my manuscript, geeking out over books, and just saying hi. So hit me up on twitter and make sure you...

Sunday, April 3, 2016

First, I know I haven't blogged in forever. No I haven't forgotten, but to say life got a tad bit busy is the understatement of the century. That said, I wanted to take a brief moment to talk about something extremely impactful that happened to me this weekend at comic con. Yes, I said comic con.

I've always believed strong female characters and their representation are super important. I'm an aerospace engineer. A women in a male dominated field. I spend a lot of my time trying to defend women in STEM fields, and serve as a role model for future females pursuing STEM fields. It's not an easy task. It seems to be never ending.

But starting at comic con this weekend, I witnessed some interesting things with respect to strong female characters. It started with a lovely discussion about strong female characters at a leading ladies panel Friday night at comic con. And no one in the room denied that strong female characters are not only critical, but they are necessary. We named strong female characters, and the qualities that made them so. It seemed so obvious to me then. But I don't think I had a full understanding of how essential strong female characters are until I showed up to comic con in my Rey cosplay and started walking around in the crowds.

First, I must note, that Rey was by far one of the most popular costumes at comic con. And while that isn't overly shocking, it's Star Wars, it's a fairly easy costume, and she's awesome, keep in mind only a handful of those Rey cosplays were adults. That's right, most of the 25 or so Rey's I saw, were young girls.

Every time I passed one, they smiled so hugely at me, and as I waved, they waved back. Without a doubt, it's an amazing thing to see that many young girls identifying with a character enough to want to portray her.

But of bigger note was the number of girls, who ran up to me and asked to take a picture. Including these two, who without any inhibition ran up and hugged me then told me how Rey was their favorite character.

And I see some of you rolling your eyes through your computer screen right now, but it wasn't just girls who responded to Rey. Let's talk about this little Kylo Ren, who I only had to hold out my light saber before he lunged at me ready for a fight. He didn't care that I was bigger than him, that I was girl or about the standard female stereotypes we often face when it comes to female heroes. The only thing that mattered was he knew Kylo Ren and Rey were supposed to fight and I held out a lightsaber. So he went for it and loved every minute of it!

There was also this boy who really wanted to take a picture with two strong female leads, but was so afraid to ask. So I asked him if he wanted a photo and he nodded shyly. You can't beat that grin on his face. He clearly loved being able to pose with two awesome female characters.

And I wont even go into the number of adults who screamed REY at me all weekend or smiled widely as I walked by. People love her and it's for so so many reasons. She's strong, she's a fighter, she's caring, she's a pilot, she's a budding jedi, she's so many wonderful and amazing things. She feels real. She feels human.

So after all of this, the excited young boys and girls, and enthusiastic adults, why are we still having to defend strong female characters? Why are we having to fight to get our female lead movies?

There's clearly a love for these kinds of characters. There's an audience there. We need to keep giving these examples to children. Girls need these role models. They need strong women to look up to. They need to know women can do anything. Boys need these role models. They need to see strong women are amazing. That they aren't a threat to them.

The more we see them, the more normal they are in the world. Their representation is important.

SCREAM THEIR PRESENCE FROM THE ROOFTOPS!

After this weekend, I know how much impact one strong female character can have. Let's flood the world with them in any way possible. Recognize them, write them, draw them, defend them, whatever it takes. Let's make a difference.

Who are your favorite strong female characters and why? And who is missing from the big screen? Let's bring these awesome characters to the surface.

And if you have strong female REAL LIFE role models, I want to hear about them too. Sound off in the comments. :)

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Friday, October 16, 2015
6am ... I'm awake... ish... at least it's Friday... Sleeping in is only a day away!

I make breakfast and grab the milk from the fridge cursing
the giant box of cake. I'm amazed I still haven't knocked something all
over the floor. It's only a matter of time.

Watching the news... winter is coming.... ugh... cold weather *GROAN*

The dog is trying my patience this morning. She's into everything... Maybe she knows it's almost the weekend too.

I head into the bedroom to finish getting ready. Andrew is
just getting out of bed. How are we both moving so slow this morning? I
settle for a polo and jeans cause it's Friday. Then slip on my Star Labs
hoodie cause it's comfy and head out to work.

7:30am I log into my computer and wish a coworker happy
birthday by "singing" to him via Lync messenger... Yeah that's the
closest thing you'll ever hear from me in terms of singing *tone deaf*
He tells me to wait for his email... I'm curious and frightened all at
once, but I start digging into my own emails.

8am Andrew asks me where the left over lightsaber
keychains are. I told him I hid them from him. I'm apparently a dead
woman now MUAHAHAHA. It's funny how possessive we are over them when
there's only a couple bucks online.

8:30am After saying happy birthday to said coworker in
person and snagging a doughnut that I probably don't need. I take my
laptop into the conference room to run our tagup meeting.

9am Ask coworker about the lightsaber keychain that I gave
him. It was apparently a huge hit with his daughters and their robotics
team. And then he went to happy hour and the bartender offered to buy
him a drink in exchange for the keychain. I need to carry extras of
those everywhere! FOR REAL! Who knew lightsaber keychains could be used
as currency?

9:30am Safety training. Hot dog! Safety first friends. Safety first.

12pm went to lunch with coworkers, again joked about the
impending name change. Top choices are Pi, or the engineer formally
known as Jamie Krakover

1pm I take a survey, this is the first time i get to check
the box "Lives with spouse" Had to think about it for a second before I
answered, but that is in fact the correct answer.

I start to dig into life changes on my work benefits...
holy moly there's a lot more here than I expected... So many questions.
On the plus side, my tax form now says I'm married! SCORE!

4:30pm I head to petsmart to pick up dog food. I havent had
time to get any until now. Good thing we still had one container. After
thag it's to the grocery store for a few needed items. We dont need
tons and we're leaving town in a week.

5:30pm I stand in front of the TV for workout number two of
the week. I start dying about five minutes in but i make it through the
whole thing.

7:15pm We arrive at my mom's house to get presents that
were sent there and drop off some extra kippot from the ceremony. Those
will float around our family for years and come out during holidays.

7:30pm We head to my coworkers house for birthday
celebration. We get lots of congrats and talk sbout the wedding. I give
tips to one coworker who is getting married next month.

There's a lot of questions about how newlywed life is. My standard response comes all 6 days of it have been awesome.

We laugh and joke about a lot of stuff. When we get ready
to leave there's a joke about us going home so we can still enjoy being
newly married. Neither of us deny it.

Friday, October 16, 2015

5:30am The alarm goes
off. I'm tired but it's the usual everyday tired not the zombie like
exhaustion that has been seeping through my bones the last week. I check
Twitter then roll over and snooze for a bit.

6am I
basically ignore my second alarm but get up when Andrew's alarm goes
off. My body hurts. My shoulders, abs and thighs are all sore from my
workout. I'm not all that surprised. I stumble around in pain trying to
get ready. Andrew asks what time it is then goes back to bed. The dog
stays with him. TRAITOR.

I make breakfast. As soon as I pour the cereal the dog emerges and wants to go out. I see how it is...

After
taking the dog out, I put the cookies in the car so I remember to bring
them today. Then I dig the milk out of the fridge. Maneuvering in there
is like a slide puzzle with all that left over cake. But it's cake so
I'm not complaining...

I plop in front of
the TV to eat and surf the web mindlessly for a bit. When I get up to
get ready Andrew is in the shower. CUE BATHROOM INVASION! I'm in an out
in less than five minutes and on my way to work.

7:20ish
am Cookies are on my desk! Score one for the day. I get logged into my
computer and actually remember my password this morning. Run into a
coworker I haven't seen in years who apparently knows one of my other
coworkers. I'm always amazed at how small this enormous world feels
sometimes... And after a quick conversation it's off to emails!

Looks like my coworker brought in cookies too. We are now drowning in them... There are worse problems to have.

9am
Get an email from my sister about wedding planning. The fun begins :) I
can't wait to help her plan her big day. Hopefully we are skilled
experts at this point. She luckily gets to learn from all our missteps.

9:30am
a quick tagup with the SWE planning team. They want to know about the
wedding then we launch into business. I think we talked longer about the
wedding than business. oh well.

And I get a
message about some confusing deadlines... one calendar says tomorrow the
other says next Friday. It's definitely next Friday. I blame wedding
brain cause that's totally a thing! (If not it is now!)

It's
noon and some coworkers want to go to lunch. How is the day more than
half over already? We talk about past work experiences, then talk about
how long we've been with the company. One of my coworkers jokes I'm as
old as the development of the digits in pi. I laugh and promise to steal
it to use on someone else :-P Then it's back to my desk for more work!
Never a dull moment!

4pm I stop at the jewelry store
to get my engagement ring and wedding band soldered together. They say
it'll take 45 minutes. I run home, let the dog out, grab my computer and
my wedding dress.

I drop my dress off to be cleaned
and preserved. It costs an arm and a leg and I wont get it back for at least
two and a half weeks, but it should be worth it. It's the last large sum
of wedding I hope to spend outside of the honeymoon, which will again be
TOTALLY worth it. The wedding is over and yet there are still wedding
type things to take care of. It never ends!

5:15pm I
trot into Kaldi's and sit down at my weekly write in. I haven't been here
in two weeks and probably haven't written anything constructive in over
a month. I'm excited to put some words on the page!

My
mom calls. We're still somehow talking about the wedding. Mostly
presents, but she never got a call from the florist about the fact that
they didn't do the flowers right. While very pretty, they weren't what we
asked for. She was promised a call from the owner and never got one.
Where is customer service these days???

1
hour and 540 words later, I call it quits. I've done better in the
past, but I've also done much worse. It'll take some time to get back
into a rhythm. It will come. I hope.

9pm I get home and I'm on
the hunt for a dress to wear to my friend's wedding on Saturday. Because let's face it, I've had not time until now to really figure that out. The
first dress is one I bought my freshman year of college. I almost fit in
it again. I'm shocked! But it's just a tad tight and I'm not going to be uncomfortable all night. The second dress I put on is the winner!
It fits better than when I bought it! SCORE! And Andrew likes the dress,
like really likes it. DOUBLE SCORE! And I get to wear my super cute but super high heels. My feet will be dying by the end of the night. Oh well the price I pay for cute.

I watch an
episode of Ellen then head off to bed. Andrew is already there playing
with his new computer. (No that's not a euphemism) I lay down next to him but Andrew gets
a work call and I pass out. I have no idea what time he actually goes
to sleep. Such is life...

Thursday, October 15, 2015

5:30 comes way WAY
too soon. Even though I slept like a rock, I'm still exhausted. Why did I
ever think this was a good time to get up for work?

6am
the alarm goes off again. I seriously contemplate a sick day, but I've
missed enough work. Five minutes later Andrew's alarm goes off and I
want to chuck it out the window! I finally crawl out of bed and stumble
around like a drunken idiot to try and get ready for the day. Andrew
mumbles at me to close the bathroom door because the light is
bothering him. I'd love to still be in bed too buddy!

I
take the dog out... Why is it so cold? ugh I hate winter and it's not
even winter yet. I surf the web in a daze and watch the news while I eat
breakfast. I'm so slow the dog nearly enjoys my breakfast for me... At
least one of us is on our game.

7:30am I slink into my
desk and realize I left the cookies I was going to bring into work on
the counter. Oh well I guess I'll bring them tomorrow. I log into my
computer and I get my password right on the second try. I'm almost awake
I swear!

Email boots up, 122 emails, 17
notifications, and 2 voicemails... could be worse, but it'll take me
probably half a day to dig out of this pile. Then another bit of time to
figure out what the heck I was working on a week ago...

I
catch up with co-workers. They ask how things went and comment on how
tired I look. Guess I'm not hiding that as well as I thought. Note to
self, go to bed at 8:30pm tonight (like that will happen)

8:30am
Time for our team tagup. I've made it through about 20 emails but now I
have to go run the meeting. So glad to be back :-P The team asks to see
some wedding photos then we launch into real work. At the end of the
meeting, we joke about my upcoming name change and my manager tells the
team to email me with suggestions... Looks like Junior High might not be
the last time I get really horrible nicknames ;)

9:30am
A quick tagup with my mentor talking about my wedding and his son's
that is next weekend. Then I stop by to say hi to my old group. Then
it's back to my desk to continue to dig out of my email pile.

10:30am
I'm starving. Is it time for lunch yet? I scarf down the half of a
banana that isn't bruised but I'm still hungry... Contemplates eating
stupid early... Also I'm only up to midday Friday on emails... still
chugging along...

I'm down to 69 unread emails... **snickers** I'm such a child. Carries on...

I
trek to the building next door to use the restroom since ours are
closed for construction while they install new air conditioning units.
It looks/sounds like Dexter's clean room over there... so much plastic
and sawing noises.

Andrew messages me about computer toys. I send him "OK" as a response but don't have time to read the link.

11:30am I jump on a virtual call with only 30 emails left to go. I think I can I think I can...

And
back to emails. The first one involves a database glitch. One of the
images we uploaded has been replaced by the picture of a jellyfish and
the inquiry is about whether or not I did that intentionally. While I'd
love to take credit for that, I unfortunately can't. And even though
jellyfish might be water dynamic, they certainly don't belong on
aircraft. Neither do snakes for that matter... never a dull moment.

I
looked away for a short bit and I'm back up to 33 emails... They're
multiplying like tribbles or gremlins who got wet and ate after
midnight... UGH.

HOLY MOLY I'm actually up to Wednesday in my inbox... almost there...

2pm
I finally cleaned out my inbox, and by clean I mean deleted everything I
could address quickly. There's still a handful of stuff in there I need
to deal with but it's time for another meeting...

3pm
DEAR GOD IS IT TIME TO GO HOME YET? And the construction guys are
bowling with lord knows what behind that plastic resembling Dexter's
clean room. **cries**

5pm I'm home and ready to return
to my workout routine... Why in the world did I think it was a good
idea to start on the highest level after a week of not
exercising...CURSE YOU T-25 GAMMA! sooooo sore

I write two thank you notes... for the gift that arrived today... hey small victories.

Andrew
and I eat dinner while watching Ellen. Justin Theroux is on and
conveniently talking about being a newlywed. He says wife is such a fun
word. I prod Andrew about it and he mumbles something under his breath.
Ahhh married life ;)

Browsing through facebook, I see
pictures of other friends' weddings that were on the same day as ours.
Look they're cutting the cake and there's a plate and fork... how
cute... why didn't we have a fork? I think I still have cake on my face 4
days later!

It's Andrew's turn for thank you note
writing. He says he's going to write three... cause he always has to one
up me ;) So I give him crap about the fact that I'm almost done with
all of mine. Fair is fair ;) I at least address the envelops for him.

8:30pm I make fun of Scream Queens and tell Andrew that "I love that he's a man" He replies "I'm sure you do baby." *wink wink*

9pm
time for cake... cause cake... you can never have to much. Andrew says
I'm going to give him another cavity but doesn't argue too much ;) Then
he retreats downstairs having only written two thank you notes. Hey it's
something. (and for the record, WE TIED) :-P

Survivor ends and I slink off to bed... Alone. Andrew is still downstairs... not sure how he can stay up so late... I'm jealous.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

5am and the dog wants out. I slink out of bed take her out and head back to sleep. Andrew doesn't wake up.

6:30am
Andrew's alarm goes off. He's headed back to work today, but I roll over
and try to pass back out. My phone starts going off at 7am. Text
messages, Facebook messages, emails... I should really mute that thing.
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS I NEED SLEEP! Oh well, at least I'm awake to
say goodbye to Andrew. Then I roll back over and go back to sleep again.

9am I actually get out of bed. The dog has had enough and wants
to go out again. I finally feel like a person again. I grab the new
blanket out of the dryer and remake the bed.

I chat
with my sister about her wedding. There's drama already and it's 11
months away. I feel bad cause I remember it all like it was
yesterday...cause it pretty much was. I know it'll all work out and try
to reassure her, but remember my state at that point and know I probably
wouldn't have listened to me at this point either. I'm in for the long
haul and I so unbelievably excited to help make her day as special as
mine was.

I pick up the letter from the city,
something about a building inspection that wasn't completed when the
previous owners did an addition. I call both numbers to get more
information but neither guys answer. I leave a message for the main guy
and give him my married name and say my husband and I bought the house
in May. Husband... wow that sounds weird. Weirder than fiance did when
it was new.

After that I slink over to couch and
continue operation clean out DVR. I have every intention of not moving
from this couch today until tonight when some of my friends who are in
town are supposed to head over for dinner at 6. I'm not sure how many
are coming yet, I invited spouses and kids, but some think their kids
will destroy the place, eat all the pizza, or kill me with questions. I
like kids so I don't mind, but I bow to them on the final decision.
Besides my house can't be anymore destroyed than it already is, there's
still presents, food, and stuff everywhere. I'm working on cleaning up.
Either way I should have ample time to clean, catch up on TV, and
relax :)

I open email and social media and start to
catch up on more messages as I watch. This is the life. Too bad I have
to go back to work tomorrow. I will enjoy today though.

11am
the doorbell rings. It's FedEx with a GIANT box from Bed, Bath, and
Beyond. The box is mutilated. I don't understand why these boxes never
get here in one piece, but all I can think about is the additional thank
you notes I must write. Never a dull moment!

12pm I sit down to write more thank you notes. It takes me an hour to write ten, but that's ten less that I have to write now.

1pm
I'm looking for an old email and stumble upon a short email exchange
between Andrew and I from the first time we dated in 2008. Start to gush
about the fact that I actually kept it, even if it didn't work out that
time. I guess my subconscious knew something I didn't ;)

5:30pm
get a call for Mrs. Meyer. I'm literally confused for half a second
before things sink in. We get the building permit thing sorted out.
Nothing we are responsible for thankfully. One less thing to worry about
:)

6:15pm the camp girls start arriving for dinner.
We order Imos pizza, salad, and toasted ravioli. We watch the baseball
game. The cardinals lose :( A sad sad end to the season. I guess the
Cubs can fulfill their Back to the Future prophecy now. We move on from
the game, eat dinner and chat for a while, catching up and laughing like
we always do. It's like no time ever passes when we meet up. I don't
get to see them enough, but we always have a blast and I cherish the time we do get to spend together. The girls leave
around 9pm, but luckily I'll get to see them on Saturday for another wedding :)

I sit down to finish a show I started before the girls arrived. And now
it's time for bed cause I have to go back to work tomorrow. Sad times.
I'm going to miss the time off, but the real world awaits.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Wake up EXHAUSTED... What day
is it? How is it 9am already? My body is warm and dead... nothing wants
to move. I check my phone... How do I have 150,000 emails? oh 149,990
are facebook comments and pictures we've been tagged in! We both feel so
loved!

I eventually slink to the bathroom to put in contacts. How am I still so EXHAUSTED???

I
step on the scale in the bathroom. My weight is down from what I
expected and I haven't worked out in almost a week. How is this even
possible? Before the wedding I would have gained a million pounds if I
didn't work out for a week... Thanks stress! Either way, small victory
that I didn't gain a metric ton of weight! I quietly vow to start
working out on Wednesday after I get back to work even though I should
probably start today... But I'm way WAY too tired! Plus we have stuff to
do.

I finally get my butt in the shower. I start to feel more
human. I also get the idea for this set of blog posts. I start running
with it. But I'm out of time and have to finish getting ready so Andrew
and I can return duplicate and broken presents and buy a few much
needed items off our registry. In between getting ready, I field phone
calls. I accidentally give someone my maiden name... That's going to
take some serious getting used to... when I decide what I actually want
my name to be... even if I haven't officially changed anything yet.
Soooo not looking forward to that process. I keep thinking of the
million things that my name is on that will need to be changed. All in
due time...

I scarf down two leftover cinnamon rolls. It's such a glamorous breakfast. But it lets us finally get out of the house.

We
stop at the bank to make a deposit then meet with Andrew's financial
analyst who I've never met. He's a nice guy but we don't stay long...
Too much to do.

We run to Target to try and figure out who
the mystery gift is from but they can't help. That's a shame, I'd really
like to thank someone for that electric screw gun... I guess we're
screwed...

We grab the couple items we really need including our
bluray player cause its on sale YAY! All in all between coupons and
sales, we save $80. I'll take it!

We move next door to
bed bath and beyond to exchange a broken gift and return some
duplicates. We head to the back of the store to grab a copy of our
registry. The woman back there asks us if we know about their completion
event that we apparently should have been told about when we created
our registry. We joke with the woman about being married two days and if
Andrew is the guy i married. It was probably way funnier in person than
it sounds on here. We still decide to pick up another couple of needed
items. Apparently my definition of need and Andrew's is slightly
different. Welcome to married life ;) But we wander the aisles looking
for things on our registry... We only registered 6 months ago... why has
everything in the story moved? Of course I can't find anything cause of
course! But somehow we make it through the store... and pay using our
store credit YAY for that!

We head out to go start
discussing honeymoon plans! We both could use a vacation right about
now! Holy moly are we still tired. We can't wait to get out of here! Too
bad we have to wait til January. At least we will get some amazing
weather and skip out on some of the cold! Hawaii here we come!

We stop at the grocery
store on the way home. Picking up a handful of items plus something for
dinner takes three times longer than it probably should. If anyone finds
my brain please let me know... I'm guessing I ate in my zombie like
state.

We finally get home. I grab a late lunch and
start in on the 1 billion thank you notes I have to write. I make a
dent, but i start realizing there's probably more gifts coming. Some of
the stuff off our registry hasn't arrived yet. **groan** I'll be
writing these things FOREVER. So glad I already wrote all the thank
you's for the gifts we got before the wedding!

Then I start operation clean out DVR. It's nice and relaxing. I make a small dent but then it's time for dinner.
We get everything cooking and sit down to watch Heroes reborn. We start
some laundry. Then dinner is ready and we watch Quantico. We do dishes
and start the dishwasher. And then it's time for Big Bang Theory.
Leonard and Penny are newlyweds too, but their lives seem so much
simpler. Being a newlywed is soooo not that easy but they have a "dog"
just like us. Wow we are so glamorous! Two days in and we're already an
old married couple. Until we starting playing footsy on the couch... we
like to push each others buttons. That hasn't changed.

About Me

I'm an aerospace engineer that has been exploring my creative side. I love young adult and middle grade literature, especially science fiction and fantasy. I'm currently writing several science fiction pieces both MG and YA.